Shipwrecked
by Elillierose
Summary: Bad title is bad. The crew crashes on an unknown and uninhabited island with new dangers and challenges waiting around every corner. They must work together in order to survive and make it off the island before it's too late. And obviously I do not own One Piece. Sanji-Centric
1. United Among the Divided

**I know this chapter is short, but this is only to introduce and to explain who is stuck with who. I also wanted to see what people thought before I continued this, so please review. And of course, later chapters will be longer. **

**Nami **

She trailed on, leaving behind several footprints embedded in the damp sand. Some were washed away by upcoming waves, but many were left untouched by the clutches of the ocean. She had only been walking for a mere few minutes, yet the worry building up deep within caused it to feel like several hours had passed. She brushed aside a few strands of her bright orange hair from in front of her eyes. They have to be around here somewhere. Anyone. She thought to herself as she pushed forward. She cupped her hands around her mouth like she had many times in the short amount of time. "Luffy! Ussop! Somebody!" She lowered her hands slowly to her sides and whispered quietly. "Please, someone please answer me." She continued on, rounding a large boulder that was jutting out of the sand, and at long last, something caught her eye. It was a lone straw hat lying there on the grainy surface. "Luffy?" She called out gently.

"Mmmhhmh Ummmf." Was the reply she got. Carefully she made her way over to the hat and picked it up, revealing a black tuff of hair protruding from the ground. She sighed quietly, both out of annoyance and out of relief. Without asking questions she began to scoop handfuls of sand until he was able to get himself out the rest of the way. Luffy got to his feet and retrieved his hat from Nami, placing it back where it belonged. "Thanks." He said, putting on one of his well-known smiles. She smiled back and stood next to him. "Hmm? Where are the others?"

She cast her gaze downward, "I don't know."

"HUH?! What do you mean you don't know? You're the navigator, you're supposed to know where things are." He crossed his arms and flopped on the ground. "If I were the others and I washed up on shore, where would I be?" He asked to himself, looking up at the sky in thought. "Nami! I think they're still in the water!" He stood back up quickly and pointed towards the ocean. "Go find them."

Her eye twitched slightly at this. Did it have to be him I found first? "I really doubt they're in the ocean, Luffy. They're around here somewhere, and they can't be too far. Can they? We just have to keep looking until we find them."

Luffy perked up, "Right! But, can we find food first? I'm hungry." Without warning, he took off into the thick brush of the forest. With this, Nami had no choice but to follow, that is if she didn't want to be left on her own. This was just like him to pull a stunt like this. Knowing that their friends could be in danger, but all he can think about at the moment is finding a damn meal. Typical.

**Sanji **

His head was throbbing, and his whole body felt sore. He slowly opened his eyes and waited for the intense brightness from the sun subside. Once he was fully able to see clearly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He winced slightly at a sharp pain shooting up his right leg. He looked down to see a bit of red staining the sand around it. "Shit." Reaching down he rolled up his pants leg to inspect the wound. There was a gash that extended at least a few inches, slowly releasing fresh blood onto the ground. It appeared to be pretty deep as well. "Well this is great." He rolled the fabric back down and forced himself to his feet.

Instinctively, he reached a hand in his pocket in search of a cigarette, disappointed to find it empty. This only served to annoy him even further. "Damn ocean." He muttered to himself, taking his hand out of his pocket. He half limped, half dragged himself over to the shade of the trees and carefully sat down against one of the tree trunks. He left his bleeding leg extended, and had the other drawn in a little closer. I guess I'll just wait here until I see one of the others. Lucky for him though, he didn't have to wait long. But he was unlucky as to who it was. He closed his eyes and sighed as the man began to approach him. "I wanted Nami-san to be the one I saw first, not this shithead."

Zoro narrowed his eyes at the cook. "You wanna repeat that?" Just like any other time, he grabbed the hilt of one of his katana.

"I'll repeat it as many times as it takes for your small mind to process it. Unfortunately for you, I lost my cigarettes, so I'll need something to take my frustration out on." It had only been a few hours, but he was already feeling the effects of the lack of nicotine. He jumped up without hesitation and the sudden pressure caused the pain to intensify. He stumbled slightly, but manged to regain his composure quickly. Still, it did not go unnoticed.

"Oi, is something wrong with your leg?" Zoro asked, completely changing the subject. He crouched down to look at it closer.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sanji asked stepping back away from the swordsman. "Don't you dare lay a finger on me."

"Idiot." Zoro stood back up. "You can't just leave it like that. At least wrap it to stop the bleeding and to keep the dirt out of it." He quickly looked away, why did he care anyway? It wasn't like it was his problem.

"Who are you, Chopper? I know what needs to be done. It's only a small scratch, nothing more. Now, we have to focus on finding the others."

**Ussop**

He was completely lost, not to mention terrified. He had no idea where he was, and no idea where the others could possibly be. He was already beginning to feel hopeless and alone. Regardless of how he felt, he trudged along the beach, kicking aside splinters of wood as he went. He wasn't even paying much attention to anything around him, he could have missed someone and he would have never known otherwise. What if they're all dead? He worried himself with questions about what could have happened to the others, or what was going to happen to him being on his own and all. He expected the worst, but hoped that he was wrong, and that any minute now he would spot them all in the distance waiting for him and welcoming him back. With that thought, he had renewed his determination in finding his companions. There was no way he was going to give up on them now, not after everything they had done for him.

He slowly began to pick up his pace until he was moving a pretty decent speed. Somewhere between speed walking and jogging. Along the way he glanced right and left, looking for any sign of another crew member. But, he never cared to look down at where he was going. His foot caught on something and he was flung forward at full force. He slid across the coarse sand until he finally came to a stop a few feet away. Immediately Ussop looked back to see what had tripped him. It was a small blue back-pack. It was Chopper's back-pack to be exact. He hurried over to it and picked it up, brushing the sand off of it as he lifted it. This was a good sign to him. It meant that Chopper couldn't be too far away, as he always had the thing on his back.

"Excuse me, but I believe that's mine." Ussop nearly fell over from the startle. He looked to his right to see not only Chopper, but Robin as well. They were both leaning against a large chunk of the ship the got lodged into the ground. Ussop could feel his eyes start to sting with tears of joy at finding a couple of his friends. He was still upset that the others weren't there as well, but he figured two was better than none. He wasted no time in making his way over to them, arms opened wide, ready to embrace them. Now all he had to do was find the others.


	2. Unfortunate Circumsatnces

**Warning: I have a sadistic sense of humor, so this may get messy. ;) **

**If you are into that sort of thing, then you will probably like it.**

**And of course, I obviously do not own One Piece**

* * *

**Nami**

"Luffy, don't you think we've gone in far enough?" By this point the two of them had been walking further and further into the forest for at least an hour and a half. The sky had already began to grow darker as night slowly approached. "I don't want to go too far from the others. They are still out there somewhere." Nami stopped where she was and leaned against a nearby tree, "Plus we've been walking forever. Can we at least stop for a few minutes and take a break?"

Luffy turned and smiled at her. "You shouldn't worry about the others, they can take care of themselves. Right now, we need to find food." And with that he continued walking on. "Come on, there has to some animals around here somewhere." The entire time they had been walking, they had yet to come across anything other than trees and exotic plants. There was the occasional insect that flew by, but nothing worthy of eating. Even as the gazed up into the towering trees, they saw no sign of fruit or anything remotely close to being edible. They could always eat the plants, but they were not familiar with them, and therefor did not know if they were harmful or not. Without warning Luffy fell back on the ground and folded his arms. He groaned loudly, "Man, what is with this freaking place?! No food anywhere? What find of island is this?"

"Just have some patience, will you? Maybe we're just not looking in the right place. Give it some ti-" She was cut off when she heard a light rustling in the bushes. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"There's something out there. I heard something move. Over there." She pointed to her right. "What if we're being followed by something... or someone?" She quickly hid herself behind Luffy. "Go check it out."

Of course, he would have went anyway, without her telling him to in hopes that it would be something that he could eat. He wasted no time in submerging himself in the thick shrubbery. Nami couldn't see what was going on, but whatever was in there was obviously putting up quite a fight.

"What's going on, is everything okay in there?"

"Got it!" Luffy shouted right before he stood up, something hanging in his left hand. It looked strange, not like a normal animal you would find in your average forest. It had rodent qualities about it, but it was a bit larger than a rabbit, and it had rough-looking skin covering most of its body. The rest was covered in grey fur.

"What is it?" Nami asked stepping forward, but still made sure to keep her distance from the unknown beast. "

What do you mean what is it? It's meat. I guess it's safe to eat. Hmm, where is Sanji when you need him?"

**Sanji **

Sanji and Zoro had been standing there for quite some time, hoping that at least one other crew member would have crossed their path. But, alas, they weren't lucky enough for that to happen. And, of course, neither of them were the type to wait around for more than short amount of time and do nothing. Sanji, again, reached in to his pocket for a cigarette. He was quickly reminded of their disappearance. He let out a long and annoyed sigh as he removed his hand from his pocket. "Where the hell are they?"

"There's no telling. With the group we have we'll be lucky enough if they are even around here." Zoro turned to face the forest behind them. "Well, guess we better go search for them. We're not going to find them if we continue standing around." Sanji couldn't deny that the swordsman had a good point, but the idea of him looking for others was rather humorous.

"Pretty ironic if you ask me. You looking for others. Yeah, that'll turn out real well."

"Just shut your mouth and stay close then." Zoro took his first step into the forest, and more steps followed suit to that one until he was well on his way into its depths. Sanji followed behind him, making sure that he kept Zoro within sight. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't afford getting separated from him too. He disliked the idea of being stuck with him, but the company was still welcomed and something that he knew would be important to have in a place like this. But, he still couldn't help but worry about the others.

Each step was causing more strain on his wound, and fresh blood was starting flow down his leg. It wasn't terribly painful, it was something that he could tolerate. He glanced up at the sky and noticed how rapidly the sky was darkening. That could only mean one thing. "Oi, Marimo, you should probably take a look at this." Zoro was about to say something back until he followed the chef's gaze and looked up at the sky.

"That can't be good. If this storm is going to be anything like the last one, then we need to find somewhere to shelter in." They both quickened their pace further into the forest, looking for any place that would be sturdy enough to withstand a storm that would be as destructive as the last. "There!" Zoro shouted and Sanji looked in the direction in which he was looking. A cave.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm stuck in here with you of all people." The cave was dark and damp, not to mention completely freezing and uncomfortable. But, it would have to do. Outside the rain was falling down with such force and power. Sanji took this time to take another look at his leg. He could feel the blood coating his pants leg when he went to roll it up. The fabric slightly stuck to the gash when he pulled it back away from his skin. And even worse was it looked a little irritated from all the walking and moving around. "Dammit." He cursed under his breath. He left it uncovered and extended his leg out in front of him like he did earlier.

Without speaking Zoro untied his bandanna from his arm and tossed it to the cook. "Here, use that." Sanji only stared at him, as if surprised by the action. "What? Can't have you getting an infection if you don't already."

"Ah, so you're worried about me? How sweet." The sarcasm was all too obvious in his tone of voice.

"As if. You could drop dead for all I care. I just don't feel like explaining your death to the others is all." He leaned back against the rocky surface of the cave wall and closed his eyes. It didn't take long before he was asleep, but that was nothing new.

Sanji hesitantly picked up the piece of cloth laying in front of him. He held it in his hand and stared at it for a few moments before sliding it under his leg and tightly tying the ends into a strong knot. Once that was taken care of, he slid his pants leg back down and followed Zoro's example to try and get some sleep.

**Ussop **

Unlike the other two groups, Ussop, Robin and Chopper had been walking along the shoreline, trying to cover as much ground around the island as they possibly could. But, just like the others, they saw no sign of the rest of their crew members. Ussop sighed deeply, "I hope they are all okay."

"I'm sure they're fine, you have to remember who you're talking about after all." Chopper said, trying to lighten the mood, even though he was concerned for the others' safety as well. As worried as he was, he was still going to try and be strong for the others. Where are you guys? He thought to himself, looking out over the ocean. He was thinking the worst thoughts of what could have happened to them, it was a devastating blow after all. Their ship had completely been destroyed, and it was a miracle they they had even come out of the whole ordeal unharmed and in one piece (No pun intended). Something horrible could have easily happened to the rest of their group and he would have no way of knowing. The thought that bothered him the most was what if one of them had been hurt during the wreck and not have him around to help them. That was his job after all, to keep them all alive and healthy.

"I don't think this will be getting us anywhere." Robin spoke up. "If they did survive this, I highly doubt they would have stayed on the shore. Knowing them, they probably headed inland in search of civilization." Robin was always the one with the most common sense, and when she said it, it sounded so obvious. Of course they would do that.

"You're probably right." Said Ussop. "But we don't even know the size of this island. We may be searching for days, or even weeks before we come across them."

"You have a point." Chopper looked from Robin to Ussop, "But we still have to try. We won't know for sure unless we actually go and search for them. Anyway, it's better then circling around this place for all of eternity."

Ussop couldn't argue with him. He gave in willingly, knowing that it probably was the best plan they had at the moment, not to mention their only plan. It was either that, or continue on to no avail. "Alright, I guess we have no choice then. It is the best chance we have at finding them. Let's go."


	3. Lurking in the Shadows

**Yayyy, a longer chapter than I usually do. :D**

**Things are about to get interesting. ^^ And I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Nami**

Night was approaching fast, faster than it normally did which was quite unusual. Nami, being the skillful navigator that she is quickly took note of this, much unlike the idiot captain of which was currently trying to figure out how to build a fire so that he could cook that food. And she couldn't help but wonder how he survived this long without the rest of the crew. But she couldn't think about that at the moment, she was too preoccupied with worrying about what was up with the sudden nightfall. It just didn't make any sense to her. Well, this was the Grand Line after all, so it shouldn't have been too surprising. That sort of thing was starting to become the norm around there.

"Nami, can you start a fire?" Luffy whined from a few feet away.

"I don't know how to do that sort of thing. Just keep rubbing sticks together, you're bound to get a spark sooner or later."

"But it's taking too long, and I'm hungry." Seriously, he had no patience when it came to a meal, or anything for that matter. Nami paid no attention to him this time, she didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment. Instead she continued to look up at the sky, still deep in thought and wondering if this change was really actually normal or not. It didn't seem like it was a threat, but she had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. After the storm suddenly hit earlier that day, she felt as though she couldn't trust her instincts anymore and was a bit on the paranoid side of things.

"Luffy, we should keep moving forward, I don't feel comfortable here." She said as she slowly rose to her feet, eyes never losing sight of the near-black heavens that were all but engulfing her line of sight.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to wait around to find out either. Please, let's just go somewhere else."

"Mmm, alright. If you say so. I trust your hunches."

Nami smiled at him and nodded before following him even deeper into the forest. She didn't know how far in they were, but it had to have been quite a distance in with all the walking they had been doing. That forest seemed to go on and on with no end. She didn't even know if they had been taking a straight path. For all she knew, they could have ended up heading back towards the shore-line. At the moment though, she really didn't care where they were, as long as they were away from where they were just at.

And strangely enough, the further they moved away from the area, they more the shade of the sky lightened and softened until it was no longer eerie. She felt a little more at ease, but still wasn't completely relaxed. "Alright", she finally spoke up. "I think this is a bit better." The place they stopped at was right next to a small stream. Moss decorated its edges and small fish caused ripples to dance across the water's surface. If it weren't for their current situation this would have been truly breath-taking. It was such a simple scene, yet it had that subtle charm about it. Whatever it was, she had a satisfying feeling while they were near it. "Yes, this place will do perfectly." She said with a pleased expression painted onto her features.

Luffy said nothing as he only sat down and continued rubbing those two sticks together, still determined to get that fire started.

"What do you suppose the others are doing?" Nami broke the short silence between the two. "

Hmmm, well, I'm sure that Zoro is probably sleeping. Chopper and Ussop are most likely hiding until someone goes to find them. Robin, knowing her, she would be more interested in finding out more about this place. And there is no doubt that Sanji is looking for either you or Robin, or might be even both."

"You think so?"

"Of course. This crew can handle anything, and this is nothing. I know for a fact that they are all doing just fine."

**Sanji**

It took Sanji a bit longer than it did for Zoro to fall asleep, but once he did, he was gone beyond hope. All the fatigue washing over him at once was enough to put him out almost instantly once it hit. Zoro, on the other hand, surprisingly had a hard time staying asleep. He dozed in and out of it throughout the entire night. After about the tenth time of awakening he decided that he would just stay awake. Mainly because for once he couldn't go back to sleep. He wasn't sure why, but he was sure the hard stone floor had something to do with it. He looked over at the cook, who was still knocked out without a care in the world. He was a little concerned though, considering that he was usually the first one up. Yet, he showed no sign of waking up anytime soon. Instead of waking him, he thought maybe it was a good idea to let him sleep some. After all, A wound or cigarette withdrawals was enough to tire someone and he was dealing with both of the

He was slightly annoyed at having to wait a little longer before they moved on. He was hoping to continue on as soon as he woke up, but now that wasn't the case. "Idiot Ero-cook, always have to get in my way, don't you?" He said quietly, more to himself than the chef. But the slight amount of noise caused the other man to stir slightly. Perhaps he wasn't as far gone as he first thought? "Finally awake are you?"

"Mmm, shuddup marimo." He was obviously still exhausted, but forced himself to sit up regardless of how he felt. "I'm amazed to see you awake, it's a rare sight indeed."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that."

"Yeah, well this isn't exactly the ideal place for a proper sleep. Woke up every two seconds with a crook in my neck or back. I'm shocked that you were able to sleep as long as you did with this sort of arrangement."

"It was the only way to get away from you of course."

Zoro glared across the cave at him, "You got something to say?"

"I just did you shitty idiot. Did you not hear me?" That came out a little harsher than he meant it to. "Sorry, just a bit irritated at the moment."

"Right." Zoro knew it was just the lack of Nicotine talking. "How are you holding up? Your leg I mean." "

You don't need to worry about that, it's fine." He sounded as though he was more or less trying to convince himself that it was nothing. It was definitely more sore than the day before. Of course, he wasn't going to tell Zoro that. He didn't want to show any sign of pain or weakness around the man.

"If it's fine then let me take a look at it."

"What? You don't believe me?

"No, I don't. Now, let me take a look."

Sanji didn't argue, he didn't feel like arguing with him, which was odd. Zoro moved across the stone surface until he was directly in front of the other. Carefully, he lifted the cook's right leg and noticed how his muscles slightly tensed up from the touch. Trying to be as gentle as he could, which wasn't saying much, he rolled up the cloth and untied the bandanna. It was soaked through with blood. Couldn't put that back on there. "Damn." as the only word he spoke when he took in the sight. It didn't look good. The cut was surrounded by a red tint and it was a little swollen. They needed to get it cleaned and soon too.

"Let me guess, it's infected?" Zoro only nodded in response and Sanji let out a sigh. "I figured as much. We should probably keep looking for the others. It's noth that bad right now, so there's no use in worrying about it right now."

"Not yet. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but out here in the middle of who knows where, I'd say it's pretty serious. It needs to be cleaned. We need to find water before we start looking for the others. Do you think you can walk alright?"

"What kind of question is that? It's not like my leg was cut off." With that Sanji stood up and limped over to the entrance just to prove his point. "See? Fine. Now come on before I decide to leave you behind."

"Like you could get far with that pace, idiot."

They were moving slowly, but at least they were getting somewhere. They weren't sure where they were going, they just picked a random direction and started walking, hoping for the best. They just hoped that they had made the right decision to travel further into unknown territory. The further in they got they sketchier their surroundings became. The ground had signs that someone had recently been through, and more than one at that. There would have had to been at least five people to disturb the ground that much.

"Are there people on this island?" Zoro crouched down to touch the soil. "I don't like this. They most likely know we're here." Just as he went to stand up he felt a stinging pain in the side of his neck. He reached his hand up and felt something feathery protruding from his skin. Pulling it out he looked at it and was immediately pissed. It was a dart. But before he could turn around to warn the chef, everything started fading to black. Dammit. Tranquilizer. that was the only thought he had time for until he passed out.

** Ussop**

"How much further do we have to go? I'm completely exhausted." Ussop whined from behind the other two. They hadn't exactly been traveling all that long, but it didn't exactly take much to wear out the liar. He was already falling behind the others. "Can't we just stop for a short break at least?" The others kept walking, paying him not one bit of their attention. They were used to it and weren't in the mood to encourage him. "Come on, it's going to start getting dark soon and I don't wanna wonder around here at night." This got Robins attention.

"What did you say?" She stopped to turn and face him.

"It's going to start getting dark soon?" Ussop asked, a little confused.

"You're right, it should be. But, the sky is showing that it's still far from that. It should be about dusk by now. I wonder why that is." She looked a little off in the distance and saw that that part of the sky was much darker, almost as though it was night time on that part of the island. "This is very strange."

"What is it?" Chopper asked, now curious about the conversation.

"There appears to be different time zones on this island. I've never seen this before. Time and weather patterns look to be all over the map."

"But what does that mean?" Ussop asked

"I don't know, I may not mean anything. I've just never seen it before. I find it to be quite interesting."

"Only you would find something this scary to be interesting." He, on the other hand, was completely freaked out by the whole idea of it. Well, he was freaked out on the inside, trying to seem brave and un-phased on the outside. But the others knew better than that. "This is nothing new to the great Captain Ussop! I have conquered many islands of this nature. They were challenging indeed, but nothing I could not handle?"

"Really?!" Chopper chimed up. "That's so cool! I wish I could be as great as you."

"Have you now?" Robin asked. "Care to explain it all to me then?"

"Uhhh, I'd rather not. It's a long story and all, and besides, we should wait until everyone can hear it. I wouldn't want to have to tell the story more than once." She caught him and yet another lie, and he knew it, not to mention how he was a little embarrassed by it.

"I can't wait!" Chopper jumped up out of pure excitement. He was even more motivated than he was before to find the rest of the crew, and as fast as possible at that. "Let's hurry and find them then!" He ran up ahead of the others who wasted no time in joining their furry companion. They went on until Chopper caught scent of certain smell. He stopped and sniffed the air.

"What is it Chopper?" Ussop asked.

Chopper looked back towards the sniper. "I smell Zoro's scent. And..."

"And what?"

"I can smell blood." Ussop had the same horrified expression on his face that Chopper had. Without hesitation, Chopper began following the smell. Ussop followed closely behind, barely leaving any space between the two of them. Chopper led them all to a cave. The surface of the rocks were still damp from the previous night's rainfall. Well, the previous night from this area of the island.

Chopper entered the cave without a second thought, his doctor instincts taking over as he felt the that his help was needed. But he didn't find the man he was hoping to find. Zoro was not there. What he found though was the Bandanna that the man always had with him.

"Is that Zoro's?" Ussop stepped closer to get a better look at the piece of cloth. "But why would he leave it behi-" He cut himself off when he saw the blood staining it. "You don't think?"

"No! I'm sure he just dropped it." Chopper said, seeking comfort in his own words. "This is Zoro we're talking about here, there is no way something could have happened to him. There has to be another explanation for this." Chopper was hoping that he was right, but doubted his own faith in the swordsman.


	4. Captured

**Nami**

Luffy, at long last, finally got a spark, and with that a roaring fire worthy enough of cooking that animal he held onto. All they could do was hope that it was safe for consumption. It looked alright at least, and the taste didn't taste off or funny in any way or form. It actually tasted quite good, in fact, it was absolutely amazing. It was like nothing they had ever tasted before. It wasn't long before they had completed their meal and was settling in around the stream. It was so captivating and Nami wished that she could just stay there forever, but she knew that couldn't be an option. She sat there next to Luffy for quite some time until it started getting late. But this time, the darkening sky didn't bother her, this time it seemed normal.

Nami glanced over at her captain, who at this point was already asleep. He was sleeping so peacefully too, as if there wasn't a care in the world, and they weren't completely lost in the middle of nowhere. She wondered how he always possessed that carefree attitude of his. She couldn't help but to be a bit envious of it. To be able to go through life and view things in the most simple way possible must be truly enjoyable.

She figured that since her captain was already asleep, then she would take the responsibility of taking watch for that night. For the most part the night went by uneventful. The fire had long since dwindled away and the chorus of insects chimed away. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was so relaxing there, and even more so at night. The more time she spent there the less she believed that there could be anything remotely threatening on the island. But, even so, she still refused to let her guard down so easily, she knew better than that. Every rustling of leaves still caused her to keep a cautious eye on the origin of the noise.

After a couple minutes of nothing else happened she averted her attention from that area and went on to look around everywhere else. Still nothing seemed out of the ordinary and she allowed herself to relax a bit more, perhaps a little too much. It wasn't long before she had fell asleep as well

* * *

Nami was awakened by the sun shining brightly in her eyes and disturbing her from her slumber. She sat up slowly, giving herself time to fully wake up and to clear the sleep from her eyes. She took a look around and her captain was nowhere to be seen. She sighed a heavy sigh of frustration before standing up to begin searching for him. She honestly didn't want to deal with this right now, but she really did not have any other choice but to bear with it. She wasn't sure if leaving this area to look for him was a good thing or a bad thing, most likely the latter of the two, yet it had to be done.

"Luffy, why can't you just stay put for once." She breathed out and headed back in the direction they had come. She figured this way it would be easier to find her way back in case there was no sign of him.

She went on for quite some time looking for anything that would have indicated that he had been through there. And at last she had found the sign that she had been looking for. Broken tree limbs littered the ground. Not very subtle, but she was relieved to have found anything. Though she wasn't too sure if this was exactly a good thing. What if it wasn't Luffy that had created such a mess? This made her feel uncomfortable and she no longer bore that relaxed sensation that she so desired.

"Luffy? Please tell me you're around here somewhere." She took a couple more steps forward before she heard a noise coming from above her. She looked up, hoping that she would see Luffy, only to be highly disappointed.

**Sanji**

Zoro finally began to regain consciousness. He was still quite groggy and a little confused, and he had no idea what had just happened. He shifted and noticed how rough and damp the floor was. It felt somewhat like stone. Stone? That couldn't be right. Weren't they just in the middle of a forest? How the hell did they just get here? He opened his eyes to take a look around, but he couldn't make out what he was seeing because his vision was still severely blurry. He could still make out basic shapes and colors though. He glanced around the area before something caught his attention. There was something against a wall opposite of him. All he could make out was a heap of black with a yellow twinge of color on it. Then it clicked.

"Ero-cook? Are you there?" His voice sounded louder than he expected, and it didn't help that the sound was echoing off the walls.

"Keep it down will ya? I already have a headache, I don't need you contributing to it." His voice, on the other hand, was unusually soft and quiet. Zoro heard him tapping his fingers on the floor rather quickly. Then he saw the fuzzy shape that was Sanji move around a little, which was followed by the sound of clattering metal. Almost like chains.

"Where are we? What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're even more of an idiot than I thought." The black shape moved a little closer to him, "We've been captured."

"Okay, but by who?" Zoro still wasn't completely there, but he was there enough to understand what the other was saying. And he already knew the answer, he wasn't even sure why he had asked it.

"Like I know, I never got to see their faces." And then the tapping started up again, only it was slightly faster than the first time. And it looked like he was moving around quite a lot. "Dammit, if they weren't so cowardly and just approach us like normal human beings, I would give them what they deserve. Pulling such a sneaky ass move like they did."

The swordsman closed his eyes, on a count of his blurry vision was only succeeding in making him dizzy. "And what would you do chained up like that? Not to mention your leg. How is it by the way?"

He heard a quiet chuckle come from the chef, "Oh, it's just fine. No need to worry about that." Of course, Zoro didn't believe him, and again, he wondered why he even bothered asking the question. Then Sanji added on, "In all honesty though, it hurts like hell." Zoro was surprised to hear this. If he was actually willing to admit his discomfort, then it must be pretty bad. That was a bit unsettling to him.

He opened his eyes back up, and was glad to see things were a lot clearer than they had been a moment before. Now he could finally get a better look at the place around him, and it did not look good. It was dark, and the only source of light was a little sunlight shining down from above. So they had to be underground somewhere. There were small patches of moss scattered all over the walls and floor. It looked as though the place had been abandoned for a while. "How do you suppose we get out of here?"

"If I knew a way, do you think I would still be here?" He had a good point.

"We could try climbing up. The opening looks large enough to fit through."

"And how are we supposed to do that when we're chained to the damn walls?" He lifted up his left arm and shook the long chain as if to emphasize his statement. Then he let if fall back to he stone floor with a loud clanging sound. He drew in a long and deep breath, then let it out, rather shakily at that.

"Are you sure you're alrigh-"

"I told you, I'm fine." And the tapping accelerated. Zoro took note that every time he shifted, he avoided moving his leg as much as possible. He placed his hand over the cook's, stopping the tapping altogether. Sanji quickly pulled his hand away. In that short physical contact they had, Zoro could feel the coolness of the other's skin. He felt cold to the touch even though it was fairly warm around them.

"You need to calm down."

"Do you know what it's like to go through withdrawals?" Before giving the man the chance to answer he continued, "No, you don't. So, shut up and let me be."

Refusing to let that be the end of it, Zoro grabbed Sanji with one hand to pull him closer, and placed the other hand on his forehead. "Son of a bitch." He breathed out. Sanji, too shocked at what just happened, made no attempt to move back away. "You're sick you idiot." He released he hold on him and it was then that the other moved back away from him.

"Well, nothing gets by you, does it?"

**Ussop**

They spent some time just staring at the piece of cloth, not wanting to believe what they were looking at. It was obviously the swordsman's, but what was it doing in a place like this, and covered in blood none the less. The more the stood there, the less they let themselves believe it. Then Chopper perked up a bit when he picked up another scent. It was another familiar one. He lifted his head slightly and began sniffing the air.

Ussop noticed their furry doctor and asked, "What is it Chopper? Did you find something else?"

"Yeah, I smell something more. It wasn't just Zoro with him, there was someone else too." He looked towards Ussop and Robin with a glint of hope in his eyes. "It was one of the others, I can recognize the smell, but I can't quite place it." Then he began smelling the blood on the bandanna, and his eyes grew larger as it sank in. "I know that smell."

"What is it? What are you talking about?"

"That blood, it's not Zoro's blood. I've smelled enough blood to know whose is whose." He looked at the cloth again. "That's Sanji's blood."

"What?!" Ussop could not believe what he was hearing. "That's good right? Not good that he's hurt, but good that those to are together. That means we're on the right track to finding two of our missing crew members." Of course, he had no idea where to go from here, but he wasn't going to let that ruin his moment of optimism.

"It does give them better survival chances with the two of them working together." Robin added in.

Ussop laughed at that, "You do know who you're talking about, right? Those two working together is about as likely as Luffy becoming a vegetarian."

"From the looks of this, it looks like they might not have a choice but to work together." Chopper informed the other two.

"What do you mean?" Usspo asked.

"It's not just blood covering this. It looks like there is pus on it as well." He dropped the cloth back onto the cave floor and quickly turned to face the others. "We need to find them.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"Don't you understand what that means?" Ussp shook his head. "Pus means infection, and without proper treatment it could become serious. We need to find them before it gets to far to be dangerous. Don't just stand there, come on!"

"Right!" Ussop and Robin followed closely behind the small doctor. He was doing the best he could to try and follow the scent. But with all the exotic plants and the recent rainfall, it was proving to be a real challenge. Without warning, he stopped abruptly. He could no longer pick up either of their smells. It just ended. Chopper, to put it lightly, was devastated. He lost the lead he had to their whereabouts.

"I lost it." Chopper said at last as he continued to sniff the air, hoping that he could pick up the smell again, "It's gone. The smell is gone."

"What do we do know then?" Ussop asked, now discouraged as well.

"What else can we do? We have to keep going forward and hope for the best. It's all we can do with what we know. We know that they were headed in this direction, so there's no reason to believe they went any other way." With that the traveled onward, not even completely sure if they were going in the right direction. All the could do was wish for the best.


End file.
